M&C Interview: Director Bruce Evans talks Mr. Brooks

Encounter a man who has everything, and you’ll find a man who has everything to hide. Mr. Brooks makes its way to DVD on Oct. 23rd, and the film’s director Bruce A. Evans took time to talk to M&C about the film, working with Costner, and the chance fans might see a sequel or two.

Hailed by film critics as “a spellbinding original,” (Gene Shalit, The Today Show), Mr. Brooks boasts an all-star cast in which “Kevin Costner and William Hurt do some of the best work of their careers,” (LA Daily News).

In the twisted and cunning crime thriller, Academy Award winner Kevin Costner (Best Director, Dances With Wolves) stars as Earl Brooks, a seemingly normal businessman, husband and father who has a deep, dark secret. He is the notorious and insatiable Thumbprint Killer who has managed to keep his two incompatible worlds from intersecting. Struggling to keep his killer instincts in check and rehabilitate his menacing criminal passions, Brooks must suppress his sadistic alter ego, Marshall, played by Academy Award winner William Hurt (Best Actor in a Supporting Role, A History Of Violence), from winning the inner battle to kill again. Mr. Brooks features an all-star cast including Demi Moore (A Few Good Men, Ghost) as tenacious Homicide Detective Tracy Atwood, and Dane Cook (Employee Of The Month, Torque), as the amateur photographer who witnesses Brooks’ most recent crime and develops his own thirst for killing. Evans (who directed 1992’s Kuffs) wrote the screenplay for Mr. Brooks with Raynold Gideon (who worked with Evans on screenplays for 1986’s Stand By Me and 1984’s Starman).The Mr. Brooks DVD comes loaded with special features including commentary by Evans and Gideon; deleted scenes with optional commentary; “The Birth of a Serial Killer: A Look at the Writing of Mr. Brooks;” “On the Set of Mr. Brooks;” “Murder On Their Minds: Mr. Brooks, Marshall & Mr. Smith;” and theatrical trailers.M&C: How did you and writer Raynold Gideon come up with the concept for Mr. Brooks, and how much tinkering was done to the script as the movie was shot? Evans: We originally thought of Mr. Brooks as a T.V. series. (this was at least a couple of years before Dexter appeared). And we had a version which was similar to Dexter in that Mr. Brooks killed bad guys which we pitched to T.V. producers and studios around town. It was considered too soft. So we made some changes, pitched that around town and were told it was too dark. That version became the movie Mr. Brooks. Kevin Costner loved the script, said we would shoot it exactly as written and that's what we did. The script was never in development, we wrote it on spec.

M&C:Evans: We wrote Mr. Brooks with Kevin Costner in mind, so we never had any doubts about his ability to be an amazing Mr. Brooks. As for fleshing out the character, the glasses, the bow tie were Kevin's ideas. And having the daughter sit on his lap was a wonderful touch. It made what was written about their closeness visual. Like any great actor, Kevin came to the set with character twitches and habits that made our words live.M&C: Since Costner is a director, how was your working relationship with him? Would you say it is easier to work with actors who are also directors? Was there ever concerns from Costner about taking his character too far or too dark – given he is still normally considered a box office "good guy" and he gets a bit bloody in the film?Evans: As for my relationship with Kevin vis a vis him being a director also; on the first day of rehearsal he told everybody that I (Bruce) was the director and though all the actors could have opinions and ideas, at the end of the day, if Bruce said it was blue it was blue and he stuck to that.I never worked with another actor who was a director so I don't know if it's easier to work with actors who are also directors. What I do know is that if you cast good actors, and Kevin is a great actor, it makes the director's job easier. There was never a concern about Costner taking his character too dark or too far.M&C: Costner and William Hurt have excellent chemistry in this film. Was this something you had to work at with the actors, or did they just naturally fall into the rhythm of their characters? Some of the most chilling moments in the film (for me anyway) were when the two actors would wickedly laugh at the same moment or look back at the same time, what kind of audience reaction from the two were you hoping to capture?Evans: Kevin and William fell into the rhythm of what was written from the first day and captured it beautifully. The laughing together and the turns were in the script and the audience reaction we were looking for is exactly what you felt.

M&C: In the film, Hurt's Marshall is in many ways the opposite of Costner's Mr. Brooks. How involved was Hurt in designing his character – at times he even seems to have a higher taste in fashion. Evans: Judiana Markovsky was our Costume Designer. I had conversations with her about William Hurt's look as Marshall as did William himself. William is absolutely a brilliant actor and his ideas for Marshall's look were better than mine.

M&C: The same can be said about Dane Cook's Mr. Smith. He is the polar opposite of both Costner and Hurt. On the DVD special features, you say that Cook just arrived on the set looking ready for the part. Do you feel all the actors had a handle on their roles and were ready for whatever twists you threw at them? Evans: Dane Cook arrived on the set looking ready for the part, partly because of his decision to go scruffy which he and I talked about and Judiana's wardrobe. Yes all the actors had a handle on their roles when they arrived. It wasn't so much handling the twists I threw them it was me picking and choosing from the riches, the great stuff they threw me.

M&C: With all the twists and turns of the film (such as the daughter's problem, the ending), do you think the audience will walk away with more questions than answers? If so, was this something you did deliberately to keep audiences guessing just where the film was headed even after the credits roll? Evans: We hope the audience won't walk away with more questions than answers. It's not so much that we wanted to keep them guessing, it's where the story went when we were writing it. And we love the idea of having this good/bad man Mr. Brooks end up being tortured by the fact that the thing he loves most, his daughter, is now the thing he fears the most.

M&C: As a director in the DVD age, how important are special features to marketing and selling a DVD like Mr. Brooks? How involved were you in putting together the DVD – from the cover art to the special features? Evans: I have no idea how important special features are to marketing and selling a DVD. I enjoy special features on other people's DVD's but that is rarely the reason I buy a DVD.Raynold and I were interviewed once when they were putting together the DVD, but we had no input on the cover art or the special features other than suggesting they include the deleted scenes. M&C: Do you feel as a film director that there is now an added responsibility on the director's shoulders to not only bring a good film to the big screen, but also deliver a solid DVD presentation of the film to the small screen? Evans: I think a director's responsibility is to bring a good product to whatever medium he's working in. If he does, the after-market in this case the DVD will be the better for it.

M&C:Evans: Given the density of the script and our schedule, there weren't many scenes that were left out. We used a version of most everything we shot. A Director's cut would be a re-arrangement of what you see with the possible inclusion of a couple of the scenes that were left out and it would only see the light of day if the DVD were very successful and there was a sequel to Mr. Brooks that would warrant a re-issue of the original DVD.

M&C: Given the story starts well into Mr. Brooks' career as the "Thumbprint Killer," could fans of the movie possibly see a prequel to Mr. Brooks somewhere in the future or perhaps a sequel?Evans: We had planned two sequels but the realization of those will depend on the ultimate financial success of the film. Mr. Brooks is now available for pre-order at Amazon. It is now available at AmazonUK. Visit the DVD database for more information.